Moonlight
by Princess Pinky
Summary: Ben takes Amy on a special moonlit date, the first one they've shared since their breakup after her son was born. This is a companion story to "Stay Gold".


**A/N: **If anyone's read my story _Stay Gold_ (it's a Radrian fic), then this story is its companion story. Not necessarily a sequel, but they do take place in the same storyverse. In other words, in _Stay Gold_ Ricky mentions to Adrian that Amy is on a date with Ben and this story is centered around said date. You don't need to have read _Stay Gold_ to understand this story though.

_**Moonlight**_

"Am I ever going to be able to take this off?"

Amy had her eyes wide open, but they were covered with a soft cotton blindfold and all she could see were the strange kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that one's mind makes behind their eyes.

"We're almost there."

Amy grinned. She could hear the smile in Ben's voice. She had her hand safely cupped in his and one of his arms was wrapped around her waist like a belt. She felt invincible in his embrace, as if his arm was Hippolyta's Belt and she was Wonder Woman. "I've been blindfolded since before I even got out of the house," she whined.

"Because if you knew where we were going it would ruin the surprise." He kissed her cheek gently. "Just a few more feet, I promise."

Where ever they were, she could tell they were outside. She could feel the breeze invading the fibers of her frail sweater. "Okay," she relented.

"You're cold," Ben observed.

Amy could feel his hands dancing along the sudden goose bumps on her skin. She frowned. "It's just a little chilly."

"Here."

She felt his feet stop and so she stopped as well. She hugged herself when he removed his arm from her waist and then she could hear the sound of fabric rustling. "You don't need to give me your jacket, I'm fine-"

"Nonsense."

Amy relaxed as she felt the heat from his coat suddenly envelope himer. She exhaled. "Thank you." Once again, she felt his arm around her and readily took his hand. "Are you cold?"

"I'm fine." He squeezed her hand.

"Thanks."

"You should know by now you don't ever need to tell me that."

Amy couldn't help but smile to herself. He was so selfless and she couldn't help but love him for it. "But I _want _to."

"Here we are."

"Really?" She reached for the blindfold, but felt his hands wrap around hers to stop her from removing it. "Ben!"

"Let me," he laughed, gently sliding his fingers under the cotton as he eased it off from around her eyes.

Amy blinked repeatedly, like a newborn adjusting to first sight. It was all fuzzy at first and shadowy, as if she was looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Then things began to clear and the black faded to clear images. She blinked again and she realized where she was. "Oh my god," she whispered, "it's the park!"

Ben nodded. "I thought it would be special."

Amy cupped her mouth as images from so many months ago surfaced in her head, images of the sunny day that Ben had brought her to that same spot and asked her to marry him. It was ironic, she realized, as she looked down at the dress she was wearing. It was long and white, the same dress she'd donned on the day of their makeshift wedding. For their first date since their breakup and her brief romance with the father of her son, she had thought it would be quite symbolic and a way to show how much she had never stopped loving him.

Ben motioned to her dress. "I guess we kind of had the same idea," he said, voicing her thoughts.

"Ben." She threw her arms around his neck, surprising him with a ferocious hug. At that moment, as she looked over his shoulder while she hugged him, she also noticed a large blanket lying on the ground. On the blanket was the same basket Ben had brought the day of his picnic proposal. "An evening picnic?" she asked, pulling back and staring at him in awe.

"Not just any evening," he grinned, motioning his hand to the diamond sky. A full moon with a blue hue hung above, casting a soft glow upon them. "A moonlit picnic," he explained. The moonlight made his smile seem otherworldly. "I remembered your fondness for moon staring…I do have the same hobby, after all."

Amy dropped to the blanket, her white dress splaying out around her like a halo. The glow of the moon reflecting off the white fabric added to the effect with an angelic glow. She reached for Ben's arm and pulled him down beside her. "You're amazing," she breathed, hardly able to contain herself.

Ben reached for the basket and retrieved a bottle of ginger ale and two flute champagne glasses. He carefully set them between himself and Amy and unscrewed the chunky plastic soda bottle and worked diligently to fill the glasses without mishap. "I aim to please."

Amy pressed her index fingers to the right side of her chest and drew an invisible heart. "Target: hit."

He chuckled as he removed a foil covered plate from the basket. He watched her eyes lit up. "It's not hot wings though," he replied sadly. "Sorry."

"Well you had to be a little original, right? I mean," she tossed her hair absentmindedly, "recreating a moment is great, but every moment needs its own special twist, right?"

"Right," he laughed, peeling back the foil on the plate.

Amy sniffed the air. "Spaghetti?"

"And meatballs." Ben winked. "Specially prepared by my dad, it's his secret recipe. The ground meat comes straight from the Boykewich Butcher Shop and he has this whole super secret seasoning process. He also made the sauce."

"It smells delicious!" Amy purred, her mouth already water. "I can smell parmesan, garlic, and tomatoes." As if to prove her point, suddenly her stomach released a pent up growl. She flushed and placed her hand to her belly. "Sorry."

Ben plucked two forks and a knife from the picnic basket and handed one of the forks to Amy. "Allow me." He began to cut up the spaghetti, but Amy grabbed his hand.

"Wait." Amy stabbed at the red coated noodles. "My mom always does that, but I've always wanted to try it like they do in the movies." She twirled her fork in the noodles, creating a thick spool, and then lifted it into the air. Immediately, all her noodles fell off the fork and back onto a plate. She made a huffing noise as Ben laughed. "That's not funny," she grumbled, her voice tainted with a childlike pout.

"You're not doing it right." Ben took her hand and guided her fork back to the plate. "It takes a certain talent to do it."

"And I'm guessing you have such a talent?"

"Well my dad is Italian." Ben grinned. "Just let your fingers follow my lead." He molded Amy's fingers around the fork handle and then tilted the fork back, gently stabbing the spaghetti. "Now you wind them," he said, guiding her hand to twirl the fork.

When he stopped, she looked up at him. "Now what?"

"Now pull it up and see what happens."

Amy lifted the fork and to her surprise, the noodles didn't fall off but instead stayed in the tightly wound bun that Ben had helped her create. "Amazing."

"You are."

"No," she rolled her eyes, "that would be you." She moved the fork to her mouth and took in the mouthful of noodles.

"What do you think?"

"I think I need to try a meatball to really get the full experience." She stabbed a meatball with her fork and plopped it onto her tongue.

Ben stared anxiously. "So?"

Amy chewed, swallowed, and smiled knowingly. "Your dad wants a full report doesn't he?"

"Maybe."

"It's the best spaghetti I've ever had!" She wagged her finger warningly. "But make sure he never tells my mom that. I'll deny it until the day I die."

"It'll remain just between the three of us," he promised, zipping his finger across his lips. Then he squinted. "Hey." He pitched forward, leaning over the plate. "You've got something right there," he said, swiping the corner of her mouth with his index finger.

Amy smirked as she felt Ben wipe away a stain of spaghetti sauce. She licked the corner of her mouth. "Thanks."

"Well don't be shy," he said, waving her on. "We've got a whole plate here."

Amy smiled a shy grin. "Actually, to be completely honest, I'm not all that hungry tonight."

"You're not?"

She shook her head and pushed the plate out of the way. "At least not for food."

"Uh…" Ben shifted awkwardly. "You're not suggesting-"

"No," she laughed. "No, absolutely not. What I mean is…" she scooted to his side and took his hand. "What I'm craving is just some good old fashion alone time with you." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I've missed you so much."

Ben rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand. "I was miserable without you," he sighed. "When you were dating Ricky, I thought I was going to lose my mind."

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "But I needed that."

"I know." He squeezed her hand. "You needed closure and I respect that."

"And that's why I love you," she breathed, moving her lips to his cheek. "Well, that's one of _many_ reasons why I love you."

Ben captured her chin in his palm and stared into her eyes, which were as bright as the full moon. He slid his hand up the side of her face, through her hair, and embraced the back of her neck. "I love you too, Amy Juergens." As he leaned in, so did she, and they met in the middle for a kiss that made his mouth tingle like an intense peppermint candy with the pink center.

Amy tilted her head back against Ben's hand and moaned behind the kiss. When it was over, she gasped as if she'd just surfaced from the bottom of a six foot pool. _"Ben…"_ she breathed, touching her lips as if they stung.

A breeze raked by his face, chilling the air around Ben and Amy. Ben glanced at the silvery-blue moon. "It's getting cold," he observed.

"Make me warm then?" Amy asked, her eyelashes fluttering.

"That's exactly what I was planning on." Ben reached for the picnic basket again and pulled out a portable CD player.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind…" she pulled Ben's jacket a little tighter around herself.

"I didn't think so." He pressed a button and grabbed Amy's hand, pulling her into a standing position.

"What are we-" She felt his finger on her lips and narrowed her eyes at it. She rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"_Under a lovers' sky, gonna be with you…and no one's gonna be around…"_

Ben slipped his arm around Amy's waist. "Dance with me?" he whispered.

Amy giggled and slipped her arms around his neck. Flashes of their first date drifted in and out of her head. She leaned her head onto his shoulder and nestled her face near his neck as they began to drift back and forth against each other like ocean waves.

"_Underneath the starlight, starlight, there's a magical feelin' that's so right! It'll steal your heart tonight!"_

"I like this song," she murmured. "Who sings it?"

"LeAnn Rimes."

"Hmm," she breathed. "So you're a country boy?"

"_Deep in the dark, you'll surrender your heart, but you know, but know that you…you can't fight the moonlight! Noooo…you can't fight it. It's gonna get to your heart."_

"I just thought it was fitting."

"The moonlight part I guess, but I'm not so sure about the surrendering my heart part."

"And why's that?"

"Because…" she drawled in a purposely slow and infectiously attractive voice. "…I surrendered my heart to you a long time ago."

"_You can try to resist, try to hide from my kiss, but you know, but you know that you…can't fight the moonlight!"_

"I guess that makes two of us."

Amy smiled and leaned her forehead against her boyfriend's. The warmth from his skin to hers was rejuvenating; if she could taste water from the Fountain of Eternal Life, she was positive that its healing effects would feel exactly the way she felt as she touched Ben. She closed her eyes, just soaking in his presence.

Ben slid his arm around her waist as they swayed on the balls of their feet beneath the moonlight. Their steps were so light, airy, and in synch with one another that – when their eyes were closed – it gave the illusion that they were just floating on each in each other's arms.

"I love you," she whispered into the night, with her eyes still closed. "I love you, Ben Boykewich."

"I'm surprised," he grinned. "Usually I'm the one to say that…not the Ben part, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, well I miss it. And I got tired of waiting to hear you say it first."

"I didn't want to overwhelm you on our first date back."

She leaned her lips enticingly close to his and whispered, "Overwhelm me."

Ben inhaled, feeling the humidness of her sweet basil scented breath on his lips. "I love you, Amy Juergens. And I always will."

"I know." She replied, with a hint of mischief in her voice. "And by the way, I've always been able to spin spaghetti on a fork."

Ben cracked his eyes open to see his girlfriend grinning at him, far more content with herself than she should be. "Is that so?" he asked skeptically.

"Do you doubt me?"

"Not really." He glided his hand along the curvature of her back and rested it against her waist. "But how did you know I would know how to?"

"Because," she smirked, "you're dad's Italian."

"Good point," he said slyly. "But that's not all I know how to spin."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he said, trailing his finger down the length of her arm. He took her hand like he was holding the delicate hand of a hand painted China doll and lifted her arm into the air and spun Amy.

Her white skirt flared out into the darkness like a fiery rim breaking out behind an eclipse. She looked stunning as she spun under his hand and when she stopped, her skirt still twirled for a second longer, before twisting itself around her like a toga.

"What's that?" Ben asked curiously, noticing moonlight winking off something around her neck. He leaned in, sliding his fingers to Amy's neck.

"Oh." Her cheeks bloomed like roses and she dipped her head, hiding her reaction. She pinched at the sparkle Ben had spotted and slid something out from underneath her dress, revealing it to be a dainty golden chain, with the engagement ring he'd given her at the end. "I didn't think my mom would be too thrilled to see me wearing an engagement ring again so soon…so I just put it on a chain for us. I do want to marry you some day, Ben. And I want it to be in the near future, but-"

"Maybe after high school?"

"Yeah."

Ben traced the engagement ring with his fingers. "I think that's a good idea," he replied finally. "Besides, we already said 'I do' to each other once. I can wait to do it again."

Amy slid her arms around his neck and pressed herself to her boyfriend like glue. "I could say 'I do' to you forever."

"That's a pretty hefty goal. Forever's a long time, you know."

"I know," she breathed, leaning her lips close to his, "but I like to shoot for the moon." She sealed the statement with a moonlit kiss.


End file.
